Time is flying by soooooo stinking fast! It feels like just yesterday my princess was born and now this weekend we celebrated her 5th birthday! I just can't believe it. This year it was especially special because my daughter, Kylie, helped narrow down ideas and gave some of her own. The theme fell on our lap since her favorite movie at this time is The Little Mermaid and her favorite color is purple. I have a bit of an obsession with vintage stuff and so really wanted to achieve a washed up old under the sea party. To achieve a co-ed birthday I added pirate stuff for the boys :-). Here is the final result.

The cake stand is custom made by my wood crafty husband! Of course I had to finish it off by distressing it to go with my washed up old under the sea look :-)!

To finish it off I used gram crackers that I had crushed in the blender to scatter on the cake stand and added some finishing chocolate sea shells.

I love how my cupcakes came out!!!!!! I alternated between a shore washed up seashell look and white pearl candy.

To achieve this look I tinted the frosting to teal for ocean. Then I added some crushed gram crackers for sand and my chocolate molded starfish.

I wanted to decorate the cake table with snacks that would go with the theme and these worked out great!!!! I made some rice krispies, dipped them in teal tinted chocolate and added some goldfish! I accented the dished with crushed gram cracker for a sand look. Not one was left over!!!!!!

My daughter has an obsession with wands and princesses so why not make a magic wand that is suitable for a mermaid ;-). I simply took wood sticks leftover from a previous party and distressed them. I added gold and purple ribbon purchased from Joanns and glued on the pencil star fish to the tip with hot glue gun. Five minutes later, bam start fish wands!

Finished off the cake table with the backdrop. I took a stick and cut strips of coordinating fabric and tied it on to the stick. I then added a net to drop it and a few scattered pencil starfish and bam... you got yourself an awesome simple backdrop!

My favor station! This was definitely one of the most fun details made! Lets start with the cage! My hubby made us a lobster trap made of wood pallets and added some shelves for display. The K on the bottom of the box was a cardboard K purchased at Joanns and painted and distressed with acrylic paint.

I distressed the cage wood and added fish net with tangled in greenery to give it that old washed up on the shore look!

Now the favors! I found these adorable little wood boxes at Joanns. I snatched them up, distressed them and filled them with chocolate gold coins and treasures for the kiddos. I surrounded them with real sea shells that I purchased at Joanns.

I filled the favors for the girls with the chocolate coins, necklaces from the Dollar Tree, tattoo and rings.

I didn't leave the boys behind! Their boxes were filled with chocolate coins, tattoos, eye patch and pirate hat :-)!

Mermaid gathering brunch! We hired a mermaid to surprise the birthday girl and so I wanted to create a beautiful area the mermaid could sit with the girls to chat. I really wanted it to serve as something that would be practical so they could eat but beautiful so that we could get some awesome pictures. As a photographer I am all about staging and details! Its my weakness. The table was inspired by my love for vintage and farmhouse decor. I had the hubby make me a farm table that was coffee table height for the kids to be able to sit on the floor and so that I could use it as a coffee table after the party lol. I made two large pillow benches. Each bench had four pillows in it which together measured about 6 feet. I then sewed a cover to coordinate with the party :-).

Lets dig in! So I decided I wanted a backdrop! Originally I wanted to do something more beachy but I am not the artist with the paint brush but I am a beast with paper crafts. Little did I know this project would take 3 weeks to make! So...word to the wise if you don't have the time make these pinwheels and paper crafts yourself (for a 8' by 9' wall with running a business, homeschooling and my wifely duties as interruptions I took 3 weeks to make this) hire someone to make it or purchase them online. The benefit in having them custom made is having the ability to match the colors exactly with your party. In materials I spent about 50 bucks but the time is what is priceless and now I understand why a wall like this would probably cost about $300.

I filled the wall with handcrafted with love by me, waterlilies and pinwheels.

I love these simple inexpensive fillers that you can always add. I made about 28 pom poms to fill in and decided to dress up the table legs with it!

Plate setting! I found these awesome gold plastic plates and forks at Party City. I love the forks because they looked like real silverware. I took milk glass jars and covered them in twine and glued silver dollars on them. I really wanted a fancy look so paper napkins weren't going to cut it. I instead decided to sew the linens for the pate settings which also gave me the flexibility of finding the perfect shade lavender. I finished off the decor with paper crafted flowers, sea shells and wood stars that I painted with acrylic paint.

It turned out perfect. Everything I hoped for and imagined! Here are some more of my favorite moments from my princess special day!

The moment she was crowned was by far the most emotional for me. I loved her expression!

Its cake cutting time!

Make a wish while I cry and savor this moment!

Now I get to enjoy a 3 month break before I have to start planning for my youngest birthday :-)! If you would like me to post tutorials for any of these projects please comment below :-)!

I'm a sucker for up cycling any and everything! Recently after working on a few projects I found myself with a crap load of scraps. So I thought hmmmm, I don't want to throw these out. I love getting my moneys worth on everything that I buy so I though stuff animals. I came across this bunny pattern on Martha Stewarts website. Feel free to head on over to her website for tutorial and pattern and make your little angel a stuffed bunny. Serves as a great baby shower gift, toy or just a decoration for your little ones room.

Have fun with patterns and colors and don't be shy, share here your final product :-)

Okay so lately I've been a little rustic country crazy! I went to Tennessee for a little family vacation and came back desiring nothing but rustic decor. As we all know its the in design right now and because of that it is also super expensive!!!! A little too rich for my blood to do a complete living room remodel along with my kitchen (which I will be posting soon!) The country vintage style mirrors range retail between $200-$300 :-O!

So I was on a mission. A mission to make my house look like a million dollar rustic home without actually having to spend it. This meant that I would have get creative, get frugal and put in a little elbow grease to see what I could repurpose that I already had. We had this Ikea mirror that we bought when we first got married, with the intention to hang it on the wall but never did. Honestly I almost threw this mirror out a few times but just couldn't bring myself to it because it had cost me $100.

I'm glad I didn't because it was the perfect new floor mirror for my new country rustic living room decor. So I started my mission. I was determined to distress this mirror and have a brand new look for only $5.00.

1. I started by lightly sanding the mirror down and then wiped off the dust so that the new paint would stick.

2. I used some leftover paint from my cabinets and lightly brushed it on purposely leaving brush strokes. Color used was OFF WHITE

3. Then I lightly sanded it again

4. After sanding it to the look I wanted I wanted to age it a little in color. So I took some of my daughters brown acrylic paint from Joann that cost only .69 and watered it down 2 to 1 ratio and rubbed it all over the mirror.

5. I then bought a pack of metal L brackets from Lowes. I didn't have a blow torch to burn them and age them so I decided to just throw it on the grill hahaha. I let it burn 3 times over and cool down. Then I rinsed them off and screwed them on to each corner.

I'm just a mom trying be their hero! I love being a stay at home mom and wife to an amazing God fearing man! Being a mom has made me aware of new talents and goals that I never knew I had before. My girls truly inspire me to be creative and fun. But its no secret that being a stay at home mom means having to be frugal. I love the creative challenge and the bonding that comes with it. I love Kit Kats and sometimes its just what I need to make it through a rough day !